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Slim Shady

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This album is full of what listeners thought Revival was missing. Eminem packs it full of rhymes aimed at a huge portion of the rap world as a younger Shady would have. He has grown and matured, as Revival proved, but now they are taking him back to his beefing days and listeners should know from the past that he will not back down.

The production is high energy and is a good base for the bars over the top. Each sets the right tone for the song they are part of and gives them the edge they are looking for. It even has some softer moments that were unexpected given the drive behind this album, and all makes for a good listen.

The lyricism is as strong as ever with Eminem even playing with flow a little more too. His fast paced rhymes are filled with raging indictments of those who criticized his last album as well as himself as an artist. Even if you do not agree with his point of view, you have to admit that his actual skills and talent behind the bars are almost beyond compare.

The features are great and help give listeners another piece of the puzzle they thought was missing from his previous release. They each show a lot of talent and add another dimension to the project. The guest selection on this is strong and it will be interesting to see who Shady will work with in the future.

Overall, this aggressive release might be considered a fail by some for the drive behind it and who he takes aim at, but this is a reflection of how his previous project was received so he has simply switched his approach and given the listeners what they wanted.

While not reviewed at the time, this album is important to the newest Eminem album review, so this release has been revisited.

A lot of people think that this is a bad album, but that has been misconstrued. This album is full of personal growth that is only natural considering how long Eminem has been rapping for. He is not the same angry young man, until everyone set him off over this.

The production is not as grimy and aggressive as previous releases, but that is the point. The atmosphere created by the beats fits the message of the songs well. The only issue really is that sometimes the backings are slightly too loud for the lyrics to be crystal clear, but this is not a huge issue.

The lyricism is amazing with Eminem keeping up his absolute top level lyrical wit and skill. Instead of using his talent to describe violent scenarios, he puts them to work with more conscious rhymes and more emotional story telling. Eminem does not miss a step and proves his pen is as sharp as ever.

The features are more pop centered on this album, but all contribute strongly. They all have a softer touch to add to the messages on this as well as reinforcing the same messages as well. A few more rap features could appease more of the masses, but might take from what this album is trying to say.

Overall, this is an album that was released to try to show the world that Eminem was stepping up and was trying to tell America something and instead all that people seemed to take from it was that he has grown as a human being and that they don’t like that. Eminem was right to release a follow up scathing people’s responses.